Heavy Goods Vehicles to bear share of pollution costs / 07-06-2011

"We would have liked more commitment from Member States but the principle of earmarking has been agreed." said Dirk Sterckx (OpenVld, Belgium), ALDE spokesperson after the European Parliament voted to approve the revised Eurovignette Directive confirming the second reading agreement reached by the EP and Council negotiating teams on May 23rd to internalise some of the external costs of road haulage such as noise and air pollution and encourage investment in cleaner vehicles.

"We introduced into the scope of the directive the principle of "polluter-pays", internalising external costs like air and noise pollution, which reflect their real cost to society" explained Sterckx.

On the issue of earmarking revenue specifically for reinvestment in the transport sector, Sterckx added: "These charges indeed should not be a new tax but revenues to invest for reducing the external negative effects in the long term and to further develop a sustainable transport sector. 15% earmarking is less than we would have liked but nonetheless a first small step that could lead to further revisions of the directive and extension to other transport modes."

(Portal Europe)